Return
by rhapsodybree
Summary: Eight months absent and Patrick Jane's return brings a number of revelations.


Disclaimer: I own nothing, and only borrowed the characters for a little while.

* * *

Lisbon sat with Cho outside the courtroom. Propping her head up on hand, she felt exhausted.

Waiting to be called to give evidence could be a lengthy business.

The seats weren't that comfortable either.

She lifted her gaze wearily when the side door opened for the umpteenth time.

A man came forward, file in hand. "Agent Lisbon?"

She made to respond, but it was Cho that the question was targeted at. Slightly miffed at being passed over, she sat up straighter. "Yes?"

She saw the man flounder, and would have smirked, had she the energy. The clerk recovered and stepped back. "You're up next."

Lisbon didn't object when Cho stood up and leaned down. She accepted his help, easing upright.

She'd refused any type of assistance for the past eight months, but in these last five days, she had found herself ceasing to care.

Righting herself, and ensuring her clothes were in place, she took a deep breath to prepare herself.

* * *

Leaving the courtroom, she groaned when she spotted Cho on the phone.

She wanted nothing more than to go home and snuggle into bed, but it would appear they had another case.

Cho's look in her direction confirmed it.

Lisbon's patience wearing thin by the time they arrive onsite, it wasn't helped by a smart arse comment from one of their suspects. She was fed up with people looking at her pregnant and then looking for a wedding ring.

_What was this – the eighteenth century?_

"Not only am I a cop with a gun," she growled. "I'm a hormonal, pregnant cop with a gun. Want to revise your statement?"

The man actually gulped.

Not keen on due process, she took a look around, stated the obvious veiled with a minor threat and then prepared to leave, case solved.

She didn't hear van Pelt turn to Rigsby. "That was freakily like Jane used to do."

"I know," the tall detective agreed. "Wonder where he is now?"

"And when he's coming back," said van Pelt softly, rubbing her hands up and down her upper arms.

Cho spoke in even tones, slapping his notebook closed as he did so. "He'll be back."

The trio made their way over to the SUV.

What they weren't to know was that this prediction would come true sooner rather than later.

* * *

The following morning, Lisbon struggled to come awake when her phone rang.

She hadn't slept well. She hadn't had a good night's sleep in over eight months.

_Blast that man to hell and back. _

Mumbling responses that vaguely represented her agreement to be there soon, she hung up.

Legs momentarily tangled in the sheets, she finally heaved herself upright. Seated on the side of the bed, she took a deep breath and rose.

Arriving on the scene not long after, she greeted Cho.

Preparing to be briefed, she was confused when Rigsby left the house and looked at her strangely. "What?" she asked sharply.

Rigsby ignored her, turning to Cho. "What did you call her for?"

"She can handle it," came the stoic man's response.

Lisbon was annoyed now. "'She' is standing here and would like to know what is is that 'she' can handle."

Rigsby looked at her dubiously and then resigned himself. "It's best if you come and look."

Stepping forward, Lisbon entered the front door. Crossing the threshold, she saw sombre looks on faces. Feeling dread in the pit of her stomach, she spread a hand across her swollen abdomen as her unborn child began to kick fiercely.

Reaching the back of the house, she ignored van Pelt's alarmed look in her direction. Pushing open the door, she froze. Her eyes couldn't move from the artwork on the wall before her.

_Red John had returned._

In a daze as she made her way back to the station, she discovered that this new arrival wasn't the only one. She stepped off the lift to find Patrick Jane, gone eight months, leisurely sipping tea.

She tamped down any feelings of concern and worry at the exhaustion lining his features. "Jane," she said in an icy tone.

"Lisbon..." The cocksure voice of the onetime consultant trailed off when he turned to her.

And saw all of her.

* * *

When Lisbon is kidnapped by Red John two days later, she discovers just what Jane has been doing all this time away.

"It is rare for me to be deceived," the serial killer said conversationally, "but Patrick did well to keep you out of my sights."

He came closer and Lisbon resisted the urge to back away. "Why, if I'd known, we would have met earlier." He tut-tutted. "So rude of Patrick to not make the introductions."

He eyed the heavily pregnant woman, the first trace of glee slipping into his features. "Your Patrick is quite the talented man."

* * *

As Lisbon lay sleeping in the hospital bed 37 hours later, Jane seated at her bedside and not budging, there were a number of revelations.

Firstly, Jane's ring was gone, buried with the body and memories that were no longer Red John and haunting him.

Secondly, Lisbon's long lost cross – one she had searched for high and low – was found... around Patrick Jane's neck.

Thirdly, he was the father of Lisbon's unborn child. (This revelation had stunned Rigsby, been old news for Cho and confirmation for van Pelt.)

All three were very protective of their boss in his absence.

"Where were you when she was throwing up every five hours for two months straight?"

"How long will you be staying this time?"

Jane's response was certain. "I'm not going anywhere."

As Lisbon slowly returned to consciousness, she smiled tiredly at the possessiveness and protectiveness of her teammates toward her, even against their onetime colleague.

They left not long after and she demanded an explanation.

Patrick Jane – serious for once in his life – held one hand firmly in hers as he brushed a stray hair from her face.

He wasn't able to move on to the future with the past hanging over him. He hadn't known he was going to be a father, but he knew he had endangered Lisbon when he slept with her that night eight months earlier.

Determined, he had left CBI, deciding to go at it alone.

Lisbon figured that she should be more angry – and had no doubt that once she had recovered she would be so – but at the same time, she could understand why he had done it. She was more pissed off at his stupidity.

Though one little, tiny irrational part of her though it romantic.

"Don't you ever leave me again," she demanded, mortified at the tears pooling in her eyes.

Patrick Jane had wet eyes of his own as he leaned in to press a kiss to her brow.

Lisbon relished the touch and held his gaze as he eased back and slipped a hand to where their unborn child continued to grow.

"I'm here for you Teresa. All the way."

* * *

_Adelaide Jane was born three weeks and one day later. _


End file.
